Why Real Estate Agents Must Stop Chasing Lead Gen Hacks and Build Their Sphere

Jim Young (00:00)
Good question. I would say that the the biggest piece of advice I give them, stop waiting for another widget, stop waiting for another tool, stop waiting for something to solve your business and take you to the next level. You need to do it through active cultivation of your sphere. You know, there’s a lot of rejection in sales. There’s zero rejection in showing interest in another person.

Scott Bursey (01:58)
Welcome back to the Real Estate Pros podcast powered by Investor Fuel. I’m your host, Scott Bursey. And today we are joined by Jim Young from Edina Realty. Jim is exactly the kind of operator we love to have on the show. He brings that refined high-octane fuel of decades deep market expertise and the kind of leadership that turns agents into powerhouses. If you want to know how to stay at the top of your game in a changing market, lean in.

Jim’s about ready to give us the blueprint. Jim, welcome to the show.

Jim Young (02:28)
Thanks, Scott. I appreciate being here.

Scott Bursey (02:30)
It’s great having you here, brother. And to help our listeners get up to speed, please give us the front row seat on how your career ignited and where you’re pouring your fuel now.

Jim Young (02:39)
You know, my career ignited when I was, you know, a young agent. I got out of college and I joined Edina Realty in 1996, so 30 years ago. And ⁓ you know, right off the bat, I I just saw the the ability to grow wealth through being an agent and being successful, but then buying investment properties and and doing it the right way. So that’s kind of where I started. And after about twelve years as an agent.

and ⁓ a very top top top producer, I was doing some teaching and I really saw that that filled my cup a little more than just you know making sales. So I became a broker, started managing offices and eventually, you know, after two, three offices, I became the regional VP and did that for ⁓ a number of years. And so after 28 years on the real estate side, I moved over to the title company to run that.

And I’ve been doing that since.

Scott Bursey (03:37)
⁓ that is awesome and that is powerful. You know, what really caught my attention about you, Jim, was the way that you’ve been able to master the brokerage landscape at a Edina Realty, consistently delivering top tier results while navigating the massive shifts in our industry over the last few years. That’s precise execution right there.

Jim Young (03:59)
Yeah, the the market definitely has been very turbulent and things changing and technology. And yet you have to have constants. And the constant is working with good people and helping them to reach their database.

Scott Bursey (04:16)
Absolutely it is being able to adapt, pivot, things of that nature. Now let’s rev up the engine here a little bit and see what we have under the hood. Looking at your current operation, Jim, what is the biggest strength that keeps your pipeline moving when the rest of the market slows down?

Jim Young (04:34)
Yeah, there’s I think there’s really two things. One, with the amount of agents we have, you know, we have over two about 2,000 agents, and you know, they’re very committed to their clients. So we do a lot of networking. They come together frequently for sales meetings and exceptional property meetings and different networking events. And that kind of networking has made a big difference to the clients of EDINA Realty. second second second area to that is

the tools we give our agents. We know that if they don’t reach their database and build a big network of people that know, like and trust them, that, you know, they won’t flourish. So creating tools, creating scalable opportunities, client events that they can plug and play, that’s been really, really successful.

Scott Bursey (06:09)
You know, I see that that consistency is really the difference maker for you. Most people, quite frankly, are looking for the the hack, but you’re clearly are leaning into the fundamentals. I just love that.

Jim Young (06:22)
Yeah. Yeah, for so long, you know, the the hack has been a software, a a tool or whatever. It that is not going to make a connection for you that is full. It it might be a starter, but if you don’t follow up and do the relationship cultivation, it doesn’t work. And of course, you know, the the industry went also to the hack of, hey, come to a commoditized brokerage.

where you recruit people and eventually they’ll do all the selling and you won’t work. And of course, you know, what happens when they wanna find somebody to do all the selling and not work? That that down tr you know, that downstream doesn’t always happen. So

Scott Bursey (07:07)
Hundred percent. You know, that’s spot on, Jim. And I’m interested to know. We’ve got to know this. Every growth minded pro hits a hits a ceiling from time to time. What’s one operational habit or or let’s just call it a bottleneck? You had to break the scale to where you’re at today.

Jim Young (07:27)
You know, for my position, you know, I’m on in the executive group, but when I was a top producer and then coaching top producers to get through things, probably one of the biggest things is getting them to rely on people that can do parts of the job that are not license requiring. So trans having a good transaction coordinator, having ⁓ you know, a good marketing plan that you can set for the year and follow.

And not say, well, boy, my sales are down. I better do some marketing. Having a real plan that that gets them through that is important. you know, and then I would say for many people, certainly when they get past 30 deals a year, 40 deals a year, they’re gonna start needing some kind of an assistant to work with them. And it might be a younger agent who wants to just you know pick up the scraps, it might be.

hiring staff, it might be getting a virtual assistant. That’s a growing trend. But having people to take things off your plate so that you can continue to make relationships and sales.

Scott Bursey (08:38)
I love that perspective right there. And Jim, let’s focus on a Dino Realty here for just a little bit. Where do you see the company, the vision, if you will, the next ⁓ let’s say 12 to 24 months?

Jim Young (08:52)
Yeah, I would say that the biggest thing that you’ll see for me, Dinah, is just a massive ramp up in technology. they’ve always been known as a technology leader and innovating. And our website, in terms of broker websites in these markets, is hyper dominant. You know, some many cases 10 to 1, 10 eyeballs to us to the others. But that’s what you’re really going to see is a growth in that and more agents that

plug into that and and thrive by working with their sphere, their database.

Scott Bursey (09:25)
And on that note, in the current market, where are you seeing the low-hanging?

Jim Young (10:04)
Yeah, you know, I think the low hanging fruit is is really

connected to rates. If if rates don’t come down a little bit, what we’ve seen, and this is just kind of a ⁓ big drawback, is many times real estate becomes unaffordable. Right? So that’s definitely a challenge. But if rates drop the low hanging fruit, it’s going to be that mid tier, when I say mid tier, 400 to $600,000 current homeowner.

because they’re gonna be able to move up and let go of their three and a half percent mortgage for a five and a half. I mean if rates were at five and a half today, this market would be nuclear.

Scott Bursey (10:43)
Absolutely. You just moved the needle for a lot of our listeners. And Jim, you know, you’ve mentored and coached people. You’ve ⁓ you’ve helped elevate ⁓ people to top producers. What type of groups, networking groups, peer groups, what sort of organizations are you involved in?

Jim Young (11:01)
Well, during my time here at EDINA, I’ll give you a cut of a f a few things. And again, the power of the team is is important. Back in two thousand eight, nine, ten, eleven, and twelve, when we saw all the short sales, we started a EDINA Realty short sale and foreclosure group. We did a lot of networking actually through a Facebook page, but then we started some internal company stuff and we could

literally jump on MS teams today and have two, three hundred, four hundred agents on and we can say, hey, who’s having s if it if we were in the short sale era, hey, who’s having success getting things approved with Bank of America, with Chase, with Wells Fargo? And everybody was helping everybody. And that’s really part of our culture. So that that would be one. You know, for me personally, I really like investing in real estate and and

keeping watchful eye on the market. And we do have a commercial group at Edina that meets, you know, monthly and talks through things, both investment and and mid small commercial deals. And so getting some ideas from them, learning about other ways to fund and finance. And I certainly learned from some people on that a long time ago.

Scott Bursey (12:17)
It’s really about the collaboration and that was a well described analysis. Jim, interested to know what’s the biggest risk you see in the current market and how are you hedging your team against that?

Jim Young (12:31)
Well, the the biggest risk for any company is to not be making progress. If if if you’re if you’re not growing, you’re dying. That’s the biggest risk on an enterprise level that you need to grow. And grow means attracting more agents, rep you know, replacing the agents that are leaving the business. I mean, at any given time, twenty percent are leaving. So that’s really the risk I see for a company.

is to be status quo. For the agent out there, you know, the risk is not connecting with their sphere. And really they all get they all get sucked into passive marketing. Well, buy one more system, buy one more website, buy one more lead gen source. And they got all these things coming at them, but they don’t invest in their relationships.

Scott Bursey (13:25)
It’s all about those relationships. You must be proactive, not reactive.

Jim Young (13:31)
For sure.

Scott Bursey (13:31)
Gotta ask you this too. I know our listeners are gonna wanna know from you, Jim. How do you keep your team’s vision clear when the industry noise gets loud?

Jim Young (13:41)
Yeah, well, the industry noise is loud. Wall Street has certainly fully entered the real estate game. And that’s actually one of the threats that, you know, I probably should have a answer at the last question. You’ve got all these companies that have come forward now saying, Hey, we want to do real estate, mortgage, title.

And the agents get sucked into working with them and saying, this is great. I can do a loan with you know, pick a company, and we just have one-stop shop. That one-step shop wants to be the one and replace you as an agent, and you’re the one today. Agents are the focus today. Wall Street wants to move them out of the way and say, Well, once they do a transaction with us, we can offer them home insurance and title and mortgage.

perpetually and that’s a risk to agents. So you know that’s that’s definitely what is the current mantra.

Scott Bursey (15:22)
You know, that’s the mindset ⁓ shift right there. It’s not about the noise, it’s about the signal. It it really is. And on that note, you know, if if somebody’s listening and they’re saying, Hey, this is somebody that I really like, Jim, what would you like them to know first about Edina Realty?

Jim Young (15:40)
You know, Edina Realty, the number one reason why people are here is culture. It’s it’s a group of people committed to doing things the right way. And that starts all the way back with our founder, Emma Rovick, you know, in 1955. I mean, she said, treat people in such a way that if you see them walking down the street, you don’t feel like you should cross to the other side. So the number one thing is culture and support. Culture and support. And that’s that’s really how things have been made possible here.

You know, the average the average person at Edina has been here, fifty percent of our people have been here more than 10 years. And in real estate, people do move around. Thirty-five, forty percent of people that have left Edina come back. So there’s a reason and it’s because of culture. It’s not a body shop, it’s not where you hang your license. It’s a family, it’s a team, it’s a local company.

Scott Bursey (16:33)
It’s all about the golden rule. That rule that we all learn in kindergarten. Treat people the way that you would like to be treated.

Jim Young (16:43)
Yes, for sure.

Scott Bursey (16:43)
Jim, we talk about high octane fuel here. If you could give our listeners one piece of advice that one deep dive nugget, what ⁓ radical change or trajectory in the next ninety days ⁓ do you see? And what advice would you give our listeners today?

Jim Young (17:03)
Good question. I would say that the the biggest piece of advice I give them, stop waiting for another widget, stop waiting for another tool, stop waiting for something to solve your business and take you to the next level. You need to do it through active cultivation of your sphere. You know, there’s a lot of rejection in sales. There’s zero rejection in showing interest in another person.

And

Scott, if you’re in if you’re in my life and in my sphere, and I simply call and say, Scott, hey, how are you? Haven’t talked to you. How’s your family doing? And you know, what kind of stuff’s going on at work? And, you know, what do you do in the summer? You traveling? You going to the Black Hills? What are you doing? And then, you know, hey, ⁓ you know, I gotta ask, you guys got any plans of you know, I know both your kids are off to college. You any plans on downsizing or moving? And if I don’t lean in and ask you about you or

You know, I I really think if you could go have two breaking breads, two meat for a meal, coffee a week, you’re not gonna be at the front of the game. But stop waiting for other people to solve your real estate slow slowness or taking to the next level and just start working with your database.

Scott Bursey (18:22)
I love it. Absolutely. Those were some golden words. Thank you for that, Jim. And Jim, for our listeners that want to keep this conversation moving, stay in your lane or collaborate with you on future deals, perhaps. What’s the best way for them to plug into your pipeline and reach you directly?

Jim Young (18:40)
Well, you know, I’m really a high responsive person. So somebody calling me is totally great. and somebody emailing me is also great. So [email protected] if you’re not in this market, Edina is edinarealty.com. And then of course, people can certainly reach out to me by phone, which is (651)263-0264

Scott Bursey (19:10)
Jim, you brought the fuel and then some. Thank you so much for being on the show today.

Jim Young (19:15)
You’re welcome. It’s good to be with you, Scott.

Scott Bursey (19:16)
And to our listeners, we appreciate you. If you got value from today’s episode, please subscribe. We’ll be filling your tanks with the lineup of elite guests, just like Jim Young of Edina Realty, who are accelerating and setting the pace for the rest of the industry. Until next time, keep your standards high and your vision clear. We’ll see you in the next episode, everyone.